Mr. Tony Breton:

If we look at biowaste across Europe in terms of a typical anaerobic digestion site, it is in the region of 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes. There are large ones such as the one wet anaerobic digestion site in the UK that has 100,000 tonnes while there are other facilities within and outside Milan that have 300,000 tonnes. For here, probably the best option is to have a series of relatively small-scale sites catering for 40,000 or 50,000 tonnes. This way, you have the economies of scale to make the operation work. You do not see waste anaerobic digestion sites below 30,000 tonnes because the economics do not stack up. I am talking about waste here. I am not talking about grass. To make the economics of a waste anaerobic digestion system work, you need to make sure what is coming in enables a valuable product to emerge and you understand what is coming out of the back end. The UK went very hard on wet anaerobic digestion without any consideration of what was coming out of the bag. When you look at where the digestate market is in the UK, according to the last Waste and Resources Action Programme figures, it is at minus £8 per tonne. This relates to waste processors paying farmers to take their digestate even in today's market. It is about making sure the system is in place to deliver not just the energy but the renewable fertilisers and the compost ready for soil health, for which you must have a market. If you cannot develop the backend market, you are just creating another waste problem.